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“Being saved means that the daily work of regeneration is taking place as the HolySpirit circumcises from the soul the fruits of iniquity, thus healing the soul of these scars.”

-Apostle Eric vonAnderseck

AM I SAVED“Am I saved” is often a painful question that believers ask after many years battling with doubt, orstruggling to make sense of the many truths that that are taught by the current Christian culture that keepchanging. The experience they have under that leadership has been very much like being at a carnival ortheme park, waiting to get on one ride and when it’s over, getting in line for the next ride.

If you’ve ever read the articles offered in Christian magazines, you’ve seen the procession of hypes andgripes, promises and pit-falls, mountain tops and valleys. Each author describes h/her personal experiencewith Jesus with extreme prejudice of the flesh, leaving believers reeling back and forth. Can you blameanyone for wanting to get out of the carnival?

Do you want to know what does the Bible really say about being saved and how you can be assured ofyour salvation? You might be surprised at the answer as the Holy Spirit executes a complete turnaroundfor the church.

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AM I SAVED

2Copyright Eric vonAnderseck IDCCST® Christian Education

Read what others have said about this ground breaking lesson by Apostle Eric vonAnderseck. The HolySpirit is answering questions, bringing deliverance and healing. People often ask where their faith got offtrack and learning that something went wrong from the start. Thankful for a light to show them the wayback, they’ve expressed how they’ve experienced the ministry of the Spirit.

“Wow! This is the Holy Spirit’s surgical knife, cutting away the flesh. I admit, I had thesesame misconceptions about being saved that are addressed so well by the Spirit throughApostle Eric.”

“The part of the lesson that ministered to me the most was the part where grace is explained.That’s helped me to be honest about my relationship with God.”

“I too was guilty of not wanting God to take away my cushy comfort zones. When I felt truththreatening my established principles I defended myself saying ‘God isn’t a formula’. I cannow see that I was actually trying to protect my right of access to the devil’s trio. As I nowunderstand it and see it, that’s the familiar formula of the flesh. What a turnaround. Needlessto say, I’ve experienced great liberty.”

“What I experienced was a great sobering of the Spirit. I found God challenging the verythings I defended in the past. The Holy Spirit ministered to me from Proverbs 5:7: ‘Hear menow therefore, O ye children, and depart not from the words of my mouth.’”

“Our Bible study group is planning to discuss this lesson in detail. We don’t want to missanything the Holy Spirit is bringing out to the church through Apostle Eric.”

“Where the lesson reads ‘Now that believers are beginning to awaken to the fact that theirreference point for good and God’s reference point for good are not one and the same’ madesense. I’ve studied the series on The Flesh and that was helpful to get me zero in on whatexactly I am calling good and how and why God sees this differently.”

“Learning the 4 steps to come into covenant brought me back to examine my experiencewith God. Making a confession of faith while ignoring the these steps was where mysalvation got off track some 30 years ago. I thank God for mercifully giving me theassurance that I can submit myself to his apostolic steward. The body is in desperate need ofthis instruction. Everything I’m learning is setting me free.”

“I can’t say enough good things about this lesson or anything else the Spirit of God brings tolight through Apostle Eric’s ministry and calling. My prayers are with you. Thank you.”

“I’m a hands-on kind of guy so the examples you’ve given helped me to see what washappening when I quoted from Romans but left out the meatier things of Christ.”

AM I SAVED


Am I SavedBy Apostle Eric vonAnderseck

More than ever, people want assurance of theirsalvation. In that we are in the season oftransition and God has restored to the churchthe original foundation of truth, many arereexamining what it means to be saved. God isreshaping the Christian perspective.

-- Being saved means to come into covenantwith God. God provided a covenant for thesalvation of the soul.

-- Salvation means that not only does Godforgive your sins, but that God is takingownership of your soul. He is claiming you asHis own. Sin separated you from God, but Godprovided a covenant in Jesus Christ to providea way for you to be joined to Him again.

-- Salvation means that you’re beingtranslating from the kingdom of darkness tothe kingdom of God. You’ll learn a lot aboutthe 4 steps to come into covenant with God,the terms of the new covenant, the tools of thenew covenant and the priesthood of the newcovenant in months to come.

In this lesson, we want to take a look atRomans 10:9-10, 13. Sometimes we’re asked,What about these scriptures in Romanschapter 10, God doesn’t mention anythingabout having made a covenant with us. We’regoing to break down these verses from Romansby first looking at how they are misinterpretedtoday to clearly see the problem God isaddressing for healing.

FREE COURSES FROM APOSTLE ERIC:

“What is Covenant” – Follow this link tolearn the 4 Steps to Covenant Faith.

“New Covenant Faith” – Follow this link todownload and print the course.

“The Tools of the Covenant” – Follow thislink to 12 lessons that teach about the toolsof the covenant and how to use them.

“The Flesh” – Follow this link to theground breaking lessons that teach the 5facets of the flesh.

http://www.s8wministries.org/general.php?id=15

http://www.s8wministries.org/course.php?id=1



AM I SAVED


Romans. 10: 9,10,139 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the LordJesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hathraised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.10 For with the heart man believeth untorighteousness; and with the mouth confession ismade unto salvation.13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lordshall be saved.

Keep in mind that whenever truth is misunderstood,it is misapplied. That means that false expectations are being established about whatGod says about being saved.

Keep in mind too, that when the Bible is read as text, the words that are printed onpaper are pointed to and linked together in a logical, but very restricted way. In theseverses, just looking at words (but not taking into account what Apostle Paul knew andtaught about the covenant of Jesus Christ) we might think logically that to be saved(brought into the kingdom of God) a person need only believe in his heart that Jesusdied for his sins and that He rose from the dead, and make a confession statement to thefact; and from then on they have the right to the kingdom of God.

But this rather sketchy, limited rendition of the text does not present Jesus Christ in Hiscovenant and does not provide a proper frame for faith to be fitted to Christ.

God had not planned for believers to draw from the scriptures to know what it means tobe saved. But rather to be instructed in the fulness of the doctrine of Christ by apostolicstewardship to understand the terms of the covenant to have assurance of their adoptioninto the family of God and their inheritance of eternal life.

The Bible talks about being saved, making confession of Christ, but the Bible does notcreate the experience; and left to himself, the natural man would link scriptures togetheraccording to his many personal prejudices, believing that the Holy Spirit is leading himand guiding him. For this reason we have over 33,000 different Christiandenominations today.

Each person is using h/her own “wait and see” discernment: Let’s wait and see whatcomes of this idea I got while reading scripture. If something good comes of it – it wasGod.

Now that believers are beginning to awaken to the fact that their reference point forgood and God’s reference point for good are not one and the same, this opens the doorto see that each person accepts as “good” the voice of their own aspiration, principle,

[EACH PERSON IS USINGH/HER OWN “WAIT ANDSEE” DISCERNMENT: LET’SWAIT AND SEE WHATCOMES OF THIS IDEA I GOTWHILE READINGACRIPTURE. IF SOMETHINGGOOD COMES OF IT – ITWAS GOD.]

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and imagination. The text, fitted to the flesh is called good as the aspiration gives voiceto the Word of God to reflect one’s desires. But this is not God’s idea of good.

While the spiritual man accepts apostolic instruction and therefore works from the oneblueprint of truth to reflect the likeness of Christ, the natural man is inclined to use thedesign of his own soul (moral code, God-Code, signature) as the blueprint. The fleshserves as an anchor, as the mind continues to come back to these facets of the flesh tofind completion.

The inclination of man explains the natural rhythm that tends to occur when trying tointerpret scripture without the blueprint of truth God gave to the church through livingapostles.

In that you are vulnerable to build faith in the image and likeness of yourself, Godteaches you spiritual warfare. You learn how to identify the devil’s trio: Aspiration,Principle, and Imagination.

ASPIRATION (the Jezebel Yoke) –The drive of the soul to preserve thelikeness of self by using the flesh as ablueprint. Knowledge is used to mirrorself, to build for self, to bring completionto the flesh.

PRINCIPLE (the Athaliah Yoke) –The natural man is inclined to set orderto knowledge by drawing upon theblueprint of the flesh, to then use thismeasure as a standard for self and othersto reciprocate.

IMAGINATION (the Delilah Yoke) –The natural man is inclined to draw fromthe blueprint of the flesh to find promisefor rest and completion. This projection of the imagination is meant to set a path forone’s own peace.

The imagination WAS designed by God as a blessing, but Adam used it to find his peaceand security in Satan’s promise. From that point on, it became an open window throughwhich the deceiver speaks his promises to entice faith to step outside the boundaries ofthe covenant. God is challenging this Delilah yoke to break it pieces, to remove it fromthe necks of His saints.

AM I SAVED


Seducing spirits work with the devil’s trio, lending their power to these motions of theflesh so that a person, feeling these powers, mistakenly places the presence of God inthese powers. What great deception!

On a side note: Believers are vaguely aware of the dangers inherent in the flesh. Weoften hear it said that, it is for this very reason that a believer will prefer to work with“personal revelation” to interpret the scriptures. It is believed to be the only way one canbe assured that what is received is not coming from self, but from God.

I hope you’re now seeing that while the desire to not draw from self is good, notknowing about the facets of the flesh leaves a person vulnerable in that they’re not ableto properly discern how the devil’s trio continues to be the pipe line for revelation.

God has a better way for you to bypass the flesh. That is, He’s provided you a blueprintof truth to use. It has been a blessing to see believers learn how to use one blueprint oftruth, to see them learn to discern and overcome the inclinations of the natural man todraw from the record of their own souls.

Equally important, it has been a great blessing to see the saints begin to work with therevelation of God for their own personal growth. They are stewarding the measure ofgrace they receive in each word of knowledge, word of wisdom, dream, visions, orprophecy. Let’s move on now in our study.

Tunnel Vision

Drawing from the text rather than the covenant framework of knowledge leads to tunnelvision. An example might help. A group of men get together and talk about theirweekend. One guy says he went hunting, another guy says he had a date, and anotherguy says he was stuck at work.The guy who spent the weekend hunting: If he said that he spent some time in a duckblind, we wouldn’t say, “Is that all you did?” You didn’t eat or sleep or anything else. Hedoesn’t say how he got out there, didn’t say anything about having hunting gear, but weassume he did bring his gear because we know a little bit about hunting.

The guy who said he had a date might share that he took his date to a really nicerestaurant. Later when he mentions that he and his date also saw a movie, we wouldn’tbe shocked and confused and call him out as a liar. He just did not go into every singledetail of his evening.

The guy who was stuck at work. He isn’t going to itemize everything he did, but if he’sever spoken of his work, we’re filling in the details with what we already know as we’relistening to him.

AM I SAVED


These 3 examples tell us that no matter what we hear, we’re always drawing frombackground knowledge and previous experience. We don’t have tunnel vision when itcomes to hunting, or dating, or working a grunge shift.

But when it comes to the truth of Jesus Christ, believers have tunnel vision. Not able todraw from the blueprint of truth to fit the scriptures to Christ doesn’t mean that aren’tfilling in the details another way – they are.

Each person comes from a denominational or non-denominational experience, which isprejudiced by having added to the doctrine of Christ the tradition of man and havingtaken away from the doctrine of Christ the vital essential elements of truth.

When Apostle Paul wrote his epistle to the Romans he had not planned to have it read inpieces, but as a whole. He was writing to those whom he had already instructed in thefull doctrine of Christ. He hadn’t expected that pastors would take up Romans 10:9-10,13 to initiate shot gun conversions.

Most Conversions Today are Like Shot Gun Weddings

In a shot gun wedding, all you’re expected to do is say, “I do!” In a shot gun conversionall you’re expected to do is say, “I accept Jesus as my Savior.” That’s it, you’re saved!

In a shot gun wedding, you’re asked to skip over the romance, the covenant of marriage,what the vow means, the commitment, the joint labor, the rewards, etc. In a shot gunconversion, you’re asked to skip over the covenant of Jesus Christ, the seal of the Spirit,the sign of Christ in tongues, the tools of the covenant, the priesthood of the covenant –everything that makes a relationship with God intimate.

Who likes a shot gun wedding? The person who’s getting what he wants. Who likes ashot gun conversion? The logic of man is getting out of the text the satisfaction ofputting together a picture of conversion with text. He’s using logic as his confidence,refusing to labor with the apostolic stewardship God called and equipped with grace toinstruct believers to put confidence in the covenant relationship with God.

I’m not saying that this person doesn’t have feelings for God. Just the opposite. He’sallowing his feelings to rule his faith and hidden inside those feelings are the devil’s trio:Aspiration (the drive of the soul to reflect self), Principle (the drive of the soul toestablish self as the governor and law to set order), and Imagination (the drive of thesoul to project for one’s own peace and security).

“When it comes to the truth of Jesus Christ,believers have tunnel vision.”

AM I SAVED


Selective Vision

Did you know that truth is the likeness of Christ?Take a look at Romans 10:9-10,13 again. What doesJesus Christ look like? Pretend you are a sketch artistand use the words in these verses to sketch a pictureof Jesus. Then take a look at what you’ve drawn.

Would you believe me if I said that sketching animage of Jesus from these verses alone would be difficult? Again, we’re talking about thelimitations of drawing truth from the text of the Bible rather than the framework oftruth, the foundation – the blueprint.

Ask witnesses to a crime to sketch an image of the perpetrator. Each witnessmiraculously sees something different. The detective, looking at one sketch mightscratch his head saying, “This is a sketch of the victim. I already know what he lookslike.”

Sifting through the other sketches later, he finds out that one witness described aneighbor she is at odds with and another witness described how angry the man was. Hersketch is obviously useless as she’s described his emotions rather than his image.

Each sketch we’re describing here in this example is useless. This helps us to understandthe habit of the natural man to draw from himself to describe Jesus Christ. This image isuseless. You can’t see Jesus through the eyes of the flesh.

The Simple Faith

You might be thinking, “The scriptures there in Romans are straight forward. All youhave to do to be saved is confess Jesus Christ. The devil got away with saying this for avery long time. But God put an end to this exploitation of the logic of man to design afaith that satisfied his need to line up scriptures rather than be instructed in the doctrineof Christ.

The likeness of Christ is in His knowledge. That knowledge of the covenant is preachedby His servants of righteousness. When the covenant is preached, the grace of God ispresent. The sinner might be hearing the words of the preacher who is proclaiming thatJesus shed His blood to provide a covenant in Himself; He died for our benefit tobecome the contact point for our salvation and door to the Father.

While these words (truth) are spoken, the Spirit of God is also speaking to the heart.This is grace. Do you see grace and truth working together? You should. The simple faithis the likeness of Christ that is seen as grace and truth meet together.

[WHILE THESE WORDS(TRUTH) ARE SPOKEN, THESPIRIT OF GOD IS ALSOSPEAKING TO THE HEART.THIS IS GRACE. DO YOU SEEGRACE AND TRUTHWORKING TOGETHER? YOUSHOULD.]

AM I SAVED


Matthew 16:17 illustrates perfectly how the grace of God reveals Jesus Christ to theheart. Jesus had asked the question, "Who do men say that I, the Son of man, am?" AndPeter said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God!" And Jesus replied, "Blessedare you, Simon Barjona; for flesh and blood has not revealed it unto you, but my Fatherwhich is in heaven."

Grace carries the conviction of faith for righteousness. Going back to Romans 10:9-109 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thineheart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confessionis made unto salvation.

Before Peter made his confession of faith, “You are the Christ, the Son of the livingGod!” he first heard the words of Jesus (truth), but at the same time, Peter also receivedthe revelation of the Spirit (grace). Do you see how grace draws faith from the heart andthe mouth makes confession of Jesus Christ?

I Received Jesus into My Heart

Sometimes people turn and accuse God when they’re frustrated. You might hear it said,“I don’t need to know all that. I just want to love Jesus. I received Him into my heart.My relationship with God is intimate – between Him and me. You want me to know howgrace works and that legalism – that’s a formula.”

But if Jesus did not want you to know how grace works, He would not have explainedthat to Peter to also draw our attention to it as well. Not knowing how grace works todraw faith from the heart, a person is easily confused by this scripture from the Gospelof John, “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons ofGod, even to them that believe on his name.” (John 1:12)

A person mistakenly believes that upon making confession that Jesus is the Son of God,that they are receiving Jesus into their heart. This is an error. The experience they aretalking about is the same Peter received – the GRACE of God impacted Peter’s soul.

That impact of grace is very tangible, very real. You feel it in the very core of your being.Peter responded to the voice of the Father (grace) that was revealing Jesus Christ tohim. Peter received the testimony of Jesus – He IS the Son of God! You are the Christ!

“if Jesus did not want you to know how grace works, He would not haveexplained that to Peter to also draw our attention to it as well.”

AM I SAVED


Jesus Christ was hidden from the carnal reasoning and concealed from the tradition ofman. No man can come to the Father unless drawn by the Spirit, as Jesus Himself said,“And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me” (John 12:32). Andalso, “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him” (John6:44). Grace is the element that speaks of God revealing and communicating Christ tothe sinner to draw the sinner to God.

Peter was illuminated by grace. Faith was his response: He yielded his will to the graceof God and that is where his confession of faith came from.

The same thing happened to you. You heard the words of truth, you experienced thegrace of God drawing faith from your heart as you yielded to grace. But not knowingwhat grace is, that experience was mistaken for the seal of the Spirit – the baptism of theHoly Spirit, which actually seals your faith.

Many Believer STOP Short at Illumination

If you’re like many believers who thought that the illumination of grace was the seal ofthe Spirit, you stopped short at illumination. You believed under the influence of grace –you did receive the testimony of Jesus Christ, but you were not sealed.

Grace (illumination) is but the first of the 4 steps to come into covenant with God.Grace, faith follows, then righteousness, and then the seal. You are saved (brought intocovenant with God) by following these steps of our father Abraham (Romans 4:12).

Acts 15:11, “But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall besaved, even as they.”

Who is Preaching the Gospel?

When the Jesus of the covenant is preached, the Jesus of the covenant is confessed withthe mouth. Salvation means brought into covenant with God where apostolic instructioncontinues so that a believer can know how to serve God acceptably having received thefirst tool of his sanctification (the Holy Spirit), how to know God intimately andexperience a covenant relationship with Him. This is why the foundation of truth is laidin the heart.

“If you’re like many believers who thought that the illumination of gracewas the seal of the Spirit, you stopped short at illumination.”

AM I SAVED


Being saved means accepting the testimony of JesusChrist and receiving the sign of Christ in the seal ofthe Spirit to be brought into covenant with Him. Thebaptism of the Holy Spirit with evidence of tonguesfollows the confession of faith in Jesus. We see anexample of this in Acts chapter 10 when Apostle Peterpreached to the house of Cornelius.

Acts 10:44-4644 While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghostfell on all them which heard the word.45 And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came withPeter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost.46 For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God.

When the Jesus of man’s tradition is preached, something will always be missing fromfaith as we read in the following scriptures.

Acts 18:25-2625 This man was instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in the spirit, hespake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John.26 And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue: whom when Aquila and Priscilla hadheard, they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of God moreperfectly.

This man, Apollos, heard the good news that Jesus is the Son of God, died on the crossto seal man’s redemption in Himself and rose again from the dead. In his excitement heskipped over the necessary instruction he needed to understand more perfectly what itmeans to be saved. As a result, his faith could not be directed by the Spirit, grace did notcontinue, and he could not have a living relationship with God. Yes, he had good news toshare, but his faith is not being joined to the things God sanctified in Jesus Christ.

Thankfully, God sent someone to care for him and expound to him the way of God(covenant faith) more perfectly. The people that believed under his ministry knew onlywhat he knew. They said what he said. So someone had to go back to those people aswell and make sure they were sealed and began to instruct them in the covenantknowledge as we observe in the following scriptures.

[BEING SAVED MEANSACCEPTING THETESTIMONY OF JESUSCHRIST AND RECEIVINGTHE SIGN OF CHRIST INTHE SEAL OF THE SPIRITTO BE BROUGHT INTOCOVENANT WITH HIM. ]

AM I SAVED


Acts 19:1-61 And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through theupper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples,2 He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they saidunto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.3 And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John'sbaptism.4 Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto thepeople, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on ChristJesus.5 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.6 And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and theyspake with tongues, and prophesied.

To the mind of God, to be saved meant brought into the house of God (covenant) tobegin to function with the knowledge and tools of the covenant in order to build faith inthe likeness of Christ. These are the terms of your salvation. You are agreeing to bejoined to Christ. You are agreeing to build faith in His likeness.

Well... he is Saved Anyways

To the natural man, to be saved means this: “I just want to know if I am saved. If I amsaved I know I will go to heaven when I die. So once I’m locked in, my salvation statuscan’t be changed.” Some call this assurance of salvation.

It is often referred to as “Once saved, always saved”. The focus and drive is to get peopleto make a confession of faith. The rest matters very little to them because in the longrun, heaven is thought to be the goal.

To trace our steps back to the place where faith became focused on self, one of the thingswe see is the idea that God’s love is unconditional – meaning, free of responsibility,when in fact the conditions of faith are clearly placed in Jesus Christ and we areresponsible to the terms God laid out in Jesus Christ for our faith to express Him. God’slove was expressed through Jesus.

God said He was pleased with Jesus, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am wellpleased.” God’s love must be received and expressed on the same grounds to fulfill His

“Salvation means brought into covenant with God where apostolic instructioncontinues so that a believer can know how to serve God acceptably.”

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purpose to heal the soul and create in the soul thelikeness of Christ.

Let’s go back to Apollos from Acts 18:25-26. We readabout him earlier. He got excited about Jesus. He gotit right, Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus came to save usfrom our sins. He was illuminated and did respond tograce, but he wasn’t instructed in the knowledge ofthe covenant, which he did later gladly receive.What would have happened though, if Apollos had looked narrowly upon the need forinstruction. He might have recoiled saying, “I don’t need any man to teach me. The HolySpirit teaches me what I need to know. I felt God’s presence mightily upon me when Iwas converted. I know I am saved and no one can tell me otherwise. You believe yourway and I respect that. But I am walking my own walk with God and hope you willrespect that.”

Is Apollos saved, in that mindset? No. He would have mistaken the grace he experiencedat illumination (remember we talked about that earlier and saw how powerfully Peterexperienced grace) as God’s stamp of approval upon his selection of ideas about what itmeans to be saved, thus using the grace of God as a self witness (lasciviousness). He’sbuilding for self, not for God.

“For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to thiscondemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, anddenying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Jude 1:4)

Apollos would have further mistaken the voices of Satan’s trio (Aspiration, Principle,and Imagination) as the voice of God. These influences replace the grace of God whenthe foundation of truth is not built in the heart.

-- Being saved means that you have an accompanying witness of the Spirit that iscircumcising from the soul the witness of the aspiration, principle, and imagination.

-- Being saved means that the daily work of regeneration is taking place as the Spirit ofGod circumcises from the soul the fruits of iniquity, thus healing the soul of these scars.

Would Apollos go to heaven if he continued to resist the truth of the covenant and refusethe seal of the Spirit? No. Being saved has a purpose. God not only forgives sin, butbegins to heal the soul of the scars inflicted by Satan and begins the process of formingthe fruit of Christ within the soul. It is these fruits God is receiving back to Himself.

Remember, only Jesus pleases the Father. God is engrafting His Son within the heart toreceive Him back to Himself. Jesus’ parables point to this reality. The 5 wise virgins had

[REMEMBER, ONLY JESUSPLEASES THE FATHER. GODIS ENGRAFTING HIS SONWITHIN THE HEART TORECEIVE HIM BACK TOHIMSELF.]

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their vessels full of faith (truth and fruit) and the 5 foolish virgins were sent awaybecause their vessels (souls) were empty of Christ’s virtue.

To say that God’s love is unconditional means that God accepts our person, our bestefforts, our confession of scripture, our believing apart from His purpose. Our own heartbetrays us when we try to love God from the heart of emotion rather than the heart offaith.

I Know my Close Friend is Saved

Everyone has a close friend, a brother or sister, a father or a mother in mind when theysay, “We don’t know who is saved and who is not saved.” They’re thinking, “I was in hishouse, I spoke to him, I know him. He’s not a bad person.” They thinking, “In manyways he is better than many religious minded people I know. He shows the compassionof God, he talks about God and I know God touches his life. He believes in Jesus – justtheir own way.”

When you say, “I know that person” you’re vouching for that person – not for Christ.That’s the problem.

You might be vouching for the fact that the person you are close to had received thegrace of God at one time (illumination), or that h/she does read the Bible and doesbelieve in God. But mixed into that testimony is the good of the moral code (the abilityto show compassion). God is teaching the church our reference point for good and Hisreference point for good are not one and the same.

God made clear that there are many that will say they believe in Jesus, they will call HimLord and will be truly surprised when they are barred entrance from heaven. The gateswill be closed to them.

Jesus said, “Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thyname? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderfulworks?” (Matthew 7:22)

“And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that workiniquity.” (Matthew 7:23)

If Apollos would have chosen to walk his own way with God (under the guise ofdeveloping a personal relationship with God), then the choice he’s made reveals thateven though at one time he yielded to the grace of God (illumination) to accept thetestimony of Jesus Christ, he is now choosing to yield to the voice of his own logic as if itis the voice of God. His reference point for good would actually lead him to be in conflictwith God.

AM I SAVED


“God is teaching the church our reference point for good and Hisreference point for good are not one and the same.”

AM I SAVED


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